OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The higher Islamic committee and the Awqaf and Islamic affairs council in occupied Jerusalem strongly denounced the Israeli police for allowing themselves to remove trees from the Aqsa Mosque’s plazas last Thursday, describing what happened as an infringement on jurisdiction.

“The plazas are an integral part of the holy Aqsa Mosque and the uprooting of trees the day before yesterday by the occupation police is unacceptable, reprehensible and an assault on the Aqsa Mosque,” the higher committee the Awqaf council stated on Saturday.

“The maintenance and Islamic waqf committee of the Aqsa Mosque is the one authorized to make repairs, plant trees and do other things without permission from the Israeli police which have no authority or jurisdiction over the management of the Aqsa Mosque,” they emphasized.

The higher committee and the Awqaf council also urged the Jordanian government to assume its religious responsibilities towards the Aqsa Mosque and intervene to stop the Israeli regime from violating its sanctity.

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IOF forcibly evacuate Grandchildren of Yunus neighborhood east of J’lem

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided at dawn Sunday the newly established neighborhood Grandchildren of Yunus in Bab Al-Shams village east of Jerusalem and detained more than 50 activists.

According to local sources, the IOF used bulldozers to remove the tents of the neighborhood and detained most of the participating activists, including Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouthi.

Anti-settlement activist Abdullah Abu Rahma said that about 300 Israeli soldiers under aerial cover by a chopper stormed after midnight the neighborhood with their vehicles and one bus for the detainees.

He added the soldiers immediately fired photon grenades at the tents and rounded up most of the activists there.

Earlier on Saturday, the IOF set up barriers at the entrance to this neighborhood and prevented the access of individuals and supplies to it.

Activist Mohamed Qanadilo told Quds Press yesterday before the IOF raided the neighborhood that the activists were determined to stay in the area and not to leave it despite the Israeli evacuation order.

“We are here on our land, and the occupation must leave because it has occupied Palestine and Jerusalem with no right. We will remain steadfast in our land and we are not going to leave it,” Qanadilo stated.

In a related incident, a Palestinian young man officially married a girl on Saturday evening in the presence of their families in Grandchildren of Yunus neighborhood. Both of them are activists against Israel’s apartheid and settlement activities.

The families of Mus’ab Obeid from Jenin and his fiancée Lina Shalaldeh from Al-Khalil came from their residence in Aizaria village east of Jerusalem and attended the signing of the marriage contract.

Grandchildren of Yunus neighborhood was established on the ruins of Bab Al-Shams village east Jerusalem in the area classified by the Israeli occupation as E1 where it intends to build 4000 settlement units separating Jerusalem from the West Bank.